Areyou‘Colourblind’orisyourbraintrickingyou?

How quickly can you tap the black square if the word shown is “black”? Probably pretty fast, right? Adversely, how fast do you think you can tap that black square if the word shown is “red”? This is what the new game Colourblind challenges you to do.

What is the game really about?

Colourblind is a game that tests you to choose the word or the color displayed. It sounds simple, but is challenging. You are presented the name of a color and its letters may not be the same color as its name. For example, the word may be “orange” but its letters are colored green. If you are asked to name the word you would pick the orange square, but if you are asked to name the color you would select the green one. You continue through the game to score as high as you can by selecting the correct answer before time runs out and you only have seconds.

Why is this so challenging?

There is actually a name for this concept, it is called the Stroop Effect. Named after John Ridley Stroop, the phenomenon was documented in the 1930s. It explained how our brains take longer to process and we are more prone to errors when the word conflicts with its definition. In the case of this game, we see a word whose definition is different than its display. If you are interested, both the Wikipedia and Neuroscience for Kids websites use visuals to explain it further.

Fun yet frustrating

It really is a good test of your brain. Colourblind alternates between asking you for the word or the color. So, switching that quickly between the two is harder than you think. Just when you think you have it down and will score big, boom, wrong answer.

Give it a try for yourself and see how well you do. Colorblind is available for free on the App Store. It is designed for both iPhone and iPad and is ad-supported.